In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)
We are constantly being shot at, it seems. In this case: by “flaming arrows of the evil one.” They seemingly come in many forms. And this is a big part of what makes it difficult to “stand firm.”
Just this morning, I had a passing conversation with another pastoral colleague who was noting how many directions churches and Christians are running off in to attempt to save ourselves and our churches from whatever danger we imagine. Whether that be the dangerous press of the secular world (conservatives more so), the dangerous injustice and harms of our exclusions (liberals more so), or the danger of membership decline in our churches (which everybody feels), the constant attacks we face have been causing our battle lines to break as Christians and churches scatter to grasp for a salvation that isn’t Jesus.
We run off to the armories of Relevance (the right songs, programs, resources), Authenticity (the right influencer/Pinterest/Instagram-informed-style), Better Production Values (the right sound, lights, etc.), Moralism (the right behaviour), Legalism (the right rules for their own sake), Justice (the right upholding of the rules for peoples’ sake), Politics (the right ones, of course) or whatever else it might be. Of course, all of these means of salvation are things we can grab hold of and accomplish ourselves by our own right doing of Authenticity, Morals, Politics, or what have you. All of them are within our reach. Things we can see. Things we can do. And, importantly, things that we don’t need God for.
Unfortunately against flaming arrows, these DIY salvation kits turn out to be no more useful than the fig leaves Adam and Eve hid behind in the garden. They burn away in an instant. And when they do, we discover that the battle line we were commanded to hold, to stand firm on and hold, has been utterly broken as we’ve scattered ourselves to the four winds. The flaming arrows did not do this. It is a self-inflicted wound.
What do I mean? As the church fights itself over the best means of salvation to grab for (The Law will save us! Authenticity will save us! Trump will save us! etc.), mass casualties begin to pile up. We’ve ceased to stand in formation against the enemy and have drawn up battle lines against “flesh and blood” neighbours and fellow church members instead. Not only that, but others—disillusioned—begin to turn from the field altogether: leaving the church and perhaps their faith too. If this is what the church is all about, they want nothing to do with it. As it turns out, searching for a salvation through the practical weapons of this world (influence, legalism, programs, etc.) leaves us scattered across the hillside “like sheep without a shepherd.” Why? Because we’ve forgotten and forsaken our shepherd, who asked nothing more of us than to “stand firm” and trust him to win the battle.
Against the flaming arrows, our Lord has commanded that we stand firm behind nothing more than faith in him, trusting that this faith in nothing other than his saving power will, in fact, shield us from every threat: extinguishing every bright-flying arrow and shiny object lobbed our way.
Psalm 7 says “my shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart… he has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.” God is, in other words, more than up to the challenge. As the psalm continues we hear that the enemy—“he who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble”—falls as God’s people do nothing more than stand behind their shield of faith in God Most High. For the evil one, “the trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.” (See more about standing firm in the faith of Psalm 7 from a past devotion, here).
The question attached to the Shield of Faith is this: do you really believe that there is a God who in Jesus Christ can still save his church? Can still save you? The conviction that he can—the “confidence in [the salvation] we hope for and assurance about [the victory] we do not see” is the faith in Christ that shields God’s saints as they stand firm in him.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).
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